Influence of Organic Mulches on Growth and Yield Components of Pea's Cultivars

To study the influence of organic mulches on growth and yield components of pea’s cultivars, an experiment was conducted at the Horticulture farm, Department of Horticulture, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University, Peshawar, in 2008. Different pea cultivars (Climax, Green feast and Peshawar local) were allotted to main plot and various mulching materials (sawdust, sugarcane leaves, persimmon leaves, wheat straw and weed check as control) were allotted to subplot. Different growth and yield parameters (% germination, number of pods, plant height (cm), pods yield kg ha-1 and fresh weed biomass) were significantly affected by different pea cultivars. In case of different mulching material showed significance for fresh weed biomass, number of pods, plant height and pods yield kg ha-1. The interaction of organic mulches and pea’s cultivars significantly influenced the % germination, plant height (cm), number of pods and pods yield kg ha-1 but showed a non-significant response to fresh weed biomass (kg ha-1). The pea cultivar Greenfeast showed more % germination (96.07), number of pods (16.50), plant height (102.5 cm), pods yield kgha-1(10497.80 kg) and less fresh weed biomass (289 kg ha-1). Similarly among different mulching material the maximum number of pods (16.80) and pods yield (10638.67 kg ha-1) were obtained in plants grown under the mulch of sawdust. Hence it is concluded that pea cv. Greenfeast having sawdust as mulching material showed best results regarding pea production and weeds control.